Although it is intuitively obvious that a quality health and long-term-care system cannot exist without a quality workforce to provide the care and manage the system, this relationship has, for the most part, been taken for granted. Several of the articles in this special issue of Generations underscore the fact that a knowledgeable, competent workforce—well-trained in geriatrics and gerontological principles and practice—is essential to achieving better quality of care and quality of life outcomes for elderly consumers of health and long-term care (see Bragg and Chin Hansen, page 11; Harahan, page 20; Seavey, page 27).